One Synth Challenge #144: Rand by Sampleson (schiing Wins! kylebenjamin grabs the single instance prize!)

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doctorbob wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:56 am I'm leaning towards a Beatles-esque type track - here's a WIP of the intro'start stuff. Just got to get Ringo booted up :D

https://soundcloud.com/doctorbob/pb-wip-a
I don't want to listen to your WIP. I'm looking forward to hearing your Beatles-esque type track in voting next month. Which era of Beatles is it?

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Just putting out a few chords from "early era" stuff, when I was a teenager! Was more into the Stones and the Animals though. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" :D

dB

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Tj Shredder wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:55 pm Unfortunately I can't hit the random button with some sort of automation. Only then I could imagine to try something out with this...
I'm sure I saw a plugin once that could randomise any vst parameters. Can't remember its name though. You could try and map the controls to a mdi device and just turn some knobs until you get something you like. I've been having fun manually controlling the OSC ranges on one of my bass sound layers to get that kind of octave tweaked sh101 sound. It's not too bad once you start tweaking filter res and cutoff too.

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For me the architecture of that synth isn’t too interesting. Just the standard and not inspiring. Hitting the random button, the biggest part of the GUI, is at least delivering some surprise. If that would just change the sound every note or bar while I am playing could create some fun...
Maybe I should hack a mouse and turn it into a foot-switch that presses the button...

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Tj Shredder wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:58 am For me the architecture of that synth isn’t too interesting. Just the standard and not inspiring. Hitting the random button, the biggest part of the GUI, is at least delivering some surprise. If that would just change the sound every note or bar while I am playing could create some fun...
Maybe I should hack a mouse and turn it into a foot-switch that presses the button...
This synth remind me of like using a Commodore Amiga or something! You can't press return to save your patch, and you're only allowed short patchnames, but it doesn't tell you that. If you put a long patchname it just doesn't save the patch ;) Yes i'm bitter, i'm missing an awesome patch! ;) It does make some nice patches though i think.

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I think there are parameters "under the hood" which get set (I may be wrong) , so it's not possible to re-create the awesome patch from init.

If you get a good one, save it with a short name :D

dB

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I'm getting a warning from Brave on the contest page. I assume it is a false positive, as I checked the scripts on the page, and, of course, it's just standard Google Site stuff.

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Last edited by teilo on Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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This Rand synth sounds good! GUI is lame but ok for once.

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Yup @liqih, you can get some nice sounds. Remember to save any you get/want because it seems that not all synth params are exposed, so dialling a sound up again from INIT is not always possible.

You can also get some pretty nasty sounds too, remember to have automute on when auditioning, you might put a big spike though your speakers or head!

dB

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I should trace backwards through this topic, but I don't quite have time. Has anyone found the right settings for MuLab to let this one work without broken output, yet? I tried a few things, but to no avail (256 block size/ 44.1khz, 512 block/48khz) no idea. :shrug:

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I've definitely had some patches that sounded different on reloading a project. Not by miles though. Or maybe it's just ear fatigue.

When you automate some of the parameters e.g range, filter lfo rate, filter cutoff these seem fine but OSC mix control doesn't work in realtime.. it doesn't affect any held notes and will only update the sound when you press a new key.

some parameters don't show up in Abletons configure menu so having to map them to midi controllers direct.

OSC Range control is not linear.

Detune control for osc's doesn't do anything until 3 voices are selected which is correct logic (also shows 0 voices when there is 1) so there's no difference between 0 and 1 voices?

But when 3 voices are selected and dialed in the detune is nice and seems to work better than manually adjusting the fine tuning of the OSC. Detune is quite nice for drifting OSC effect on the lowest setting (3 voices / 0.01 detune)

The saw and square OSC sound quite nice more so than the sine and triangle. Reminds me of the casio cz in that respect.

Filter cutoff freq values are displayed as linear but they aren't linear or represented accurately.

Filter envelope doesn't kick in until displayed value is around 300hz and envelope amount seems to be a hidden parameter tied to the cutoff.

Some of the envelope time values aren't accurate so best to just use your ears.

Pitch LFO detune amount is bipolar. As the rate increases it produces some nasty artifacts and doesn't sound like nice FM but sometimes you can get some nice FM sounds.

Modwheel always controls an extreme vibrato. Best to avoid turning it fully up.

Pitch wheel is +-3 semitones.

Reverb and delay are best avoided.

Solo your tracks to check for stuck midi notes. I also keep checking my mix in mono as I found some phase cancellation with that width effect.
Last edited by MilksterX on Wed Feb 10, 2021 9:34 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Taron wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:54 pm I should trace backwards through this topic, but I don't quite have time. Has anyone found the right settings for MuLab to let this one work without broken output, yet? I tried a few things, but to no avail (256 block size/ 44.1khz, 512 block/48khz) no idea. :shrug:
I've not found any setting in ableton for avoiding the crackles other than selecting a utility and picking just the right speaker channel

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That's a shame. Thanks, though! :tu:

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Well, Rand is kind of a steaming pile of aggravation, so I think I'm out this month. We'll see what next month brings!

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Amazingly, after reading your comments, this Rand synth works quite well for me in Ableton Live, except:
1) Not all parameters can be automated.
2) The left channel is "phasing", since the Reverb cannot be turned off, but I got no crackles and I do use its Reverb in a few patches.

Anyway I do use a large buffer: 1280 samples at 44100,
since I don't care to play it with keyboard, LOL, I had enough of performing, past month.

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